Christmas Day With the Elliotts

We celebrated Christmas day with Great Uncle Bruce & Aunt Joyce. It was fun to see how big little Will is getting to be - a really smiley baby. His mom and dad are having a lot of fun with their sweet boy. It was great to see Kevin - back in town for the holidays from Portland and of course "chocolate" Morgan was there (for some reason cousin sounds like chocolate coming from CeCe) with her folks. We missed Great Grandma, who is in Austin visiting Great Uncle Bob & Aunt Wendy, but got a chance to see her before she left town. We hope she is having a wonderful (warm) Christmas in Texas.
CeCe's favorite present from the holiday came on Christmas night - a tent-like house from Morgan and her parents. With all of the screaming and dancing, we had to put away the house in order to protect the broken arm (it was just too exciting!!). Thanks everyone for a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2008

CeCe has really bounced back wonderfully from all of the awful excitement associated with the broken arm. She has figured out how much fun opening presents is and had a wonderful Christmas with a lot of family love. She is pretty much potty trained now too with all of the one-on-one attention.
Uncle Mark from California was in town for the holiday. He was a lot of fun - and a lot of help too. Auntie Beth (CeCe decided to call her that - Auntie Ellie was too hard to say) and Scott also got to spend a lot of time with CeCe. Grandma and Grandpa hosted Christmas Eve at their house - wonderful food and fun. We missed Uncle "Messy Eyes" Tony and Uncle Pete too, but they were with us in spirit.

There's No Place Like Home

We are home after a MISERABLE weekend. The plan was to go to Gilette Children's on Friday to have the bone set by a pediatric orthopedic physician since the alignment was still off after the first surgery. We went in on Friday for a 3 hour attempt at a closed reduction (meaning they did not have to make an incision into the arm - lower risk for infection). CeCe slept through the whole thing, but her parents worried - a good thing that her mom ran into an old friend, Carol, to help pass the time. Thanks Carol for the emotional support and great distraction! Dr. Walker (the surgeon) met with CeCe's folks after the surgery and spoke of how he could not get things quite lined up, but that most likely they would align over time. CeCe and her mom spent the night recovering from surgery, watching the Garfield movie.
Saturday morning (when we were all set to go home), Dr. Walker came in (on his day off) and told CeCe's mom (Mark was off on a trip) that he had been stewing on it on his drive home, the night before, and that it kept him up, with worry that he may have missed something. He wanted to go in for a second surgery, an open reduction. Once again, we were off to surgery (Mark made it back just in time to see her off). The on-call surgery crew was called in, and Dr. Walker worked for 5 hours with two of his associates on getting the arm pinned just right. Auntie Lisa and Uncle Chris helped CeCe's parents pass the LONG time until the surgery was over.
CeCe and her mom spent one more night in the hospital watching the Garfield movie(Mom got a break with a visit to the Kanter house for Hanukkah - so wonderful to be with family and out of the hospital for a few hours!). CeCe's cousin Morgan came in to wish us well too before we left on Sunday afternoon after our last dose of antibiotic.
We are now home (one more night out at Grandma and Grandpa Herder's house since Mark was off on another trip), and so greatful to be here watching the Garfield movie. We have one more week in a soft splint, and then we go back in for the hard cast on Monday. Two more weeks after that, and we should be out of the cast too.
Thank you to family and friends for thoughts, prayers, distractions, and love to help us through this tough time. We are greatful for you all!!
(and for great insurance)

A Break in the Action - and a Happy?? Birthday

Miserable news - CeCe figured out how to get out of her crib on Thursday morning. Her father had just laid her down for a long winter nap when downstairs he heard such a clatter - and some awful screaming. He met her at the bottom of the steps - where she showed him her broken arm!! He rushed her to the Red Wing hospital (yes - almost two years ago to the day where she was born) where the ortho surgeon cleared the morning schedule for a repair of a badly broken humerus (here is a link that tells a little more about the bone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humerus ). The bone had to be realigned and pinned together. CeCe and her mom spent the night in the hospital to ensure that there were no complications from the anesthesia. We are home now - and watching her carefully to prevent any further injury. She is in a splint for now and the plan is to go in for x-rays on Tuesday, see a pediatric ortho surgeon to make sure the plan of care is correct for someone her age, and have the splint replaced with the cast on the Monday or Tuesday before Christmas. She is putting up pretty well with the pain and activity restrictions and is quite a trouper considering all she has been through. She keeps her nook in her mouth and her Piglet doll at hand to help with the pain. We have appreciated all of the calls from family and friends showing their love and support.

Needless to say, the birthday party we were planning for CeCe's birthday is off for now. We opened some presents (you can see here) and measured her height to continue a tradition that her Dad and I started last year. She is getting plenty of attention and love and I don't think even noticed that we missed the celebration.

Keep CeCe in your thoughts and prayers as she heals from the break - that it is something her parents remember, but that she does not.

Getting Ready for Christmas

We finally made it out to get the tree - it looks like our best one yet! We dressed up warm and pulled CeCe in the sled until we found the biggest tree we could find at the local tree farm. So far, after two days, we just have lights on it. CeCe is of course fascinated, but undecorates as fast or faster than I can decorate.
Taking pictures with Santa this year was out since she is pretty afraid of him (so far we have just managed a high five - sitting in the lap is not an option). For now, she enjoys playing with the mini dancing version. His name sounds suprisingly like "CeCe Clause".
With a second birthday next week and the holidays rapidly approaching, December looks like it will be a busy month.

Thanksgiving Fun

OOPS!! CeCe's mom forgot the camera for the entire Thanksgiving weekend! I got these pics from Grandma Herder - and hopefully I'll get some from the Elliott's too. We started the long weekend with a fun stay at the Elliott's. Ellen made a fabulous feast on Thanksgiving and Morgan and CeCe had a great time playing together. We finished off the weekend with the Herders, including Peter and his family visiting from Kansas City. Once again CeCe had a great time with her cousin. Here are the pics that I have for now. I will add more as I can get my hands on them.We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving - we are grateful for good health, great friends and a wonderful family. CeCe and Family